Russian Security Council Warns of Foreign Agents Using Religion to “Erode Spiritual Values”

Staying with Russia, news from the Russian Security Council, via Interfax:

The special services of other countries are involving religious, ethnic, human rights and other public organizations in the activity to destabilize some regions in the world, a new version of the Russian information security doctrine published on the Russian Security Council’s website said.

…”The information impact on Russia’s population, primarily young people, is being augmented, in order to erode cultural and spiritual values, undermine moral backbones, historical foundations and patriotic traditions of its multi-ethnic nation,” the published draft of a new version of the information security doctrine, which the Russian Security Council has worked out, said.

Interfax‘s translation is clumsy, but the paranoia and conspiracy mongering is clear enough. It’s like a Russian version of the John Birch Society. The Russian text can be seen here – section 12 is the relevant passage.

But these are not the railings of some fringe organization: the Russian Security Council is part of the presidential apparatus, modelled in part on the United States National Security Council.

A year ago, Putin signed into law measures to shut down “undesirable” NGOs – it looks like religious persecution will be the next stage, on the pretext of protecting “spiritual values”.